Butter Chicken Recipe, Indian Butter Chicken Masala Recipe

Butter Chicken Recipe: Butter Chicken is probably one of the most popular Indian chicken recipes liked by all for its mild flavour and deliciously rich gravy. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the most popular dish in Indian restaurants and so, this is a restaurant-style Butter Chicken Recipe.

When you talk to non-Indians about Indian food, one of the few dishes they immediately recall is Butter Chicken. They always know Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka, “Naan Bread’, and Biryani. When I ask about Idli and Dosa, I mostly get blank stares back. So when my colleagues ask for good Indian restaurant recommendations in Singapore, I know not to suggest Murugan Idli Kadai because they may not even recognize that as Indian food!

Anyway, Butter Chicken is Indian, I do accept that. However, it has never been my first option while eating out – not now and not when I was growing up. I guess I always preferred spicier versions of chicken recipes like maybe Pepper Chicken or Chilli Chicken.

However, there’s really something very comforting about a good Butter Chicken Recipe. If cooked right, it pairs fabulously with some naan made on tawa, a simple vegetable pulao, or even plain rotis or chapatis. I have used cream in the gravy for this Butter Chicken but you can just as easily substitute that with some pureed cashew paste for a different flavour.

I made this for some friends who were coming over for dinner, and paired it with my vegetable pulao recipe. The basic gravy is adapted from my Paneer Butter Masala Recipe. This is a restaurant-style Butter Chicken Masala Recipe – so enjoy!

Instructions

Heat the butter in a pan and add the minced onions. Fry until golden brown

Add the ginger, garlic, coriander, chilli powder, turmeric, and salt. Fry for a minute until fragrant

Add the pureed tomato and tomato paste and cook for 3-4 mins until the mixture bubbles uniformly

Thrown in the kasuri methi, milk, and the cubed chicken. Cook covered for 8-10 mins until the chicken is soft. The chicken will let out more water, just check once or twice in between and give the curry a stir. Keep the flame on sim

When the chicken is cooked soft, open the lid and cook for a further minute or two. If the gravy is too thick, add some water at this stage

When done, add the garam masala or chicken masala and the cream or cashew paste. Give it a good stir, but don’t boil

Note: You can slightly fry the chicken before adding it to the gravy. I haven’t tried this but what I’d do is marinate the chicken pieces in ginger, garlic, turmeric, and chilli powder and lightly saute it until half-cooked. Then proceed with the rest of the recipe for Butter Chicken above.

For Butter Chicken recipe in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, please use the Google Translate button on the top right of this website.

I am not used to working with grams. 250 grams is just 1/2 pound, correct? That’s not very much chicken, considering the quantity of the other ingredients. That’s probably just one piece of chicken breast or a couple of boneless thighs. Please let me know if I am wrong because I would love to make this but it just seems like I need a lot more than a 1/2 pound of chicken.

thanks for your question and feedback. i usually use about 300grams chicken but i have adjusted the ingredients slightly. please use 1 lb chicken for the rest of the quantities. and of course, adjust to your taste too.

Hi nags, I prepared this recipe twice and both the times the milk curdled. Is there any way I can avoid this. Of course both the times I didn’t have to throw away … But is there any solution., and yes it tasted nice…
Rgds n tk care
Marina

I have had this happen to me as well. I haven’t seen curry made with milk…the curdling seems to happen due to the the milk not having a high enough fat content when added to hot liquid. Most recipes add cream. I plan to make this using coconut milk. My curdling also happened with low fat coconut milk so will be trying this recipe with full fat coconut milk…hope it turns out ok!

I do however need a substitute for the fenugreek leaves….ideas or can I omit?

that’s right! try using thicker milks/cream to make the gravy smoother. but more importantly, make sure the heat is minimal because that also makes the gravy curdle. you can substitute fresh coriander leaves for the fenugreek. not the same, but will give it a nice flavour too

Hi – Love the look of this recipe for butter chicken but as a beginner with Indian cooking I am unsure of how to prepare the marinade that you mention in your note at the end. How much of each ingredient should I use and should I add a liquid of some sort ?

Hello! So for that marinade, for 250 grams chicken, I would add 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp paprika or chilli powder (adjust this to your taste) and mix well with some salt. You can add a few drops of water but don’t make it too watery. Set aside for 30 mins and shallow fry in some oil before proceeding with the remaining steps. Of course, adjust chilli and turmeric in the recipe afterwards.

I made this with leftover Christmas turkey from the freezer! Just defrosted, cut it into chunks and put it in at the same stage as you said for fresh chicken. Also subbed cream for natural yoghurt and it worked a treat. New fav, easy to cook curry recipe! Thanks 🙂

there was time when i would just love the butter chicken gravy, without having the chicken. so now i make the same gravy with paneer for hubby or tofu for myself. the curry has a lovely color and looks so creamy.

there was time when i would just love the butter chicken gravy, without having the chicken. so now i make the same gravy with paneer for hubby or tofu for myself. the curry has a lovely color and looks so creamy.

Good recipe!!The original butter chicken in Punjab was of course merely tandoori chicken put into a mostly cream, tomato and ghee sauce! Which is the recipe I have from donkey's years ago. Of course, if you should ever find yourself in Ludhiana, you might try the famous Baba chicken: great butter chicken sauce, pretty spicy.

Hi. Nag…i tried the butter chicken …it just turned out to be awesome. All my family members loved it. it was simple and turned out to be excellent. your awesome and your cooking is brillant.Keep up the good work….and kepp posting new Receipes

Made your Kerala chicken roast twice last week and turned out yum. Loved the colour too. Surely going to try this one.. Your recipes are simple and easy to make, and none of the recipes i have tried so far has disappointed me.. all yum..

Looks awesome…I totally understand how the only thing they associate with Indian food is chicken tikka and naan. I made chicken chettinad and rice for an Irish guest and he loved it, though he was a little surprised that the colour and flavour was not like a butter chicken 🙂